Methods and apparatuses for controlling access to computer systems and for annotating media files

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9600648-B2
Application number	US-201314047881-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2013
Priority date	Jan 23, 2007
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for controlling access to computer systems and for annotating media files. One embodiment includes a method including generating a challenge to a user, wherein the challenge includes a verify part and a read part. The methods also includes prompting the user to solve both the verify part of the challenge and the read part of the challenge; receiving input from the user; determining if the input from the user relative to the verify part of the challenge corresponds with the known answer for the verify part of the challenge; and identifying the input from the user relative to the read part of the challenge as an answer to the read part of the challenge, if the input from the user relative to the verify part of the challenge corresponds with the known answer for the verify part of the challenge.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of digitizing media, comprising:
designating at least one first portion of an electronic representation of characters of a document as not having a known answer and using the at least one first portion designated as not having a known answer as a read part of a challenge, wherein the challenge includes a verify part for which an answer is known and the read part for which the answer is not known;
presenting the challenge to multiple users;
receiving an interpretation of the read part of the challenge from a plurality of the multiple users;
comparing the received interpretations and establishing a confidence level for the interpretations;
responsive to one of the interpretations reaching a predetermined level of confidence, establishing the interpretation as correct;
using the interpretation established as correct to replace the first portion of the electronic representation of characters of the document; and
designating the first portion of the electronic representation of characters of the document as having a known answer.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating an electronic representation of an image of the document.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising converting the electronic representation of the image of the document into the electronic representation of the characters of the document by performing optical character recognition on the electronic representation of the image of the document.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
designating at least one second portion of the electronic representation of the characters of the document as having a known answer; and
using the at least one second portion designated as having a known answer as the verify part of the challenge.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying at least one perceptible characteristic of at least the verify part of the challenge before presenting the challenge to the users.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first portion of the electronic representation of the characters of the document includes characters not recognized by an optical character recognition program.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the document is a scanned page of a book.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the document is a scanned page of a handwritten document.

9. A system, comprising:
a memory configured to store instructions; and
a processor operably coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to process the stored instructions to cause the system to:
designate at least one first portion of an electronic representation of characters of a document as not having a known answer and use the at least one first portion designated as not having a known answer as a read part of a challenge, wherein the challenge includes a verify part for which an answer is known and the read part for which the answer is not known;
present the challenge to multiple users;
receive an interpretation of the read part of the challenge from a plurality of the multiple users;
compare the received interpretations and establish a confidence level for the interpretations;
responsive to one of the interpretations reaching a predetermined level of confidence, establish the interpretation as correct;
use the interpretation established as correct to replace the first portion of the electronic representation of characters of the document; and
designate the first portion of the electronic representation of characters of the document as having a known answer.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the stored instructions to cause the system to create an electronic representation of an image of the document.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the stored instructions to cause the system to convert the electronic representation of the image of the document into the electronic representation of the characters of the document by performing optical character recognition on the electronic representation of the image of the document.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the stored instructions to cause the system to:
designate at least one second portion of the electronic representation of the characters of the document as having a known answer; and
use the at least one second portion designated as having a known answer as the verify part of the challenge.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the stored instructions to cause the system to modify at least one perceptible characteristic of at least the verify part of the challenge before presenting the challenge to the users.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one first portion of the electronic representation of the characters of the document includes characters not recognized by an optical character recognition program.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the document is a scanned page of a book.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the document is a scanned page of a handwritten document.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions executable by a processor to cause a computing device to:
designate at least one first portion of an electronic representation of characters of a document as not having a known answer and use the at least one first portion designated as not having a known answer as a read part of a challenge, wherein the challenge includes a verify part for which an answer is known and the read part for which the answer is not known;
present the challenge to multiple users;
receive an interpretation of the read part of the challenge from a plurality of the multiple users;
compare the received interpretations and establishing a confidence level for the interpretations;
responsive to one of the interpretations reaching a predetermined level of confidence, establish the interpretation as correct;
use the interpretation established as correct to replace the first portion of the electronic representation of characters of the document; and
designate the first portion of the electronic representation of characters of the document as having a known answer.

18. The medium of claim 17 , the instructions further executable to cause the computing device to:
designate at least one second portion of the electronic representation of the characters of the document as having a known answer; and
use the at least one second portion designated as having a known answer as the verify part of the challenge.

19. The medium of claim 17 , the instructions further executable to cause the computing device to modify at least one perceptible characteristic of at least the verify part of the challenge before presenting the challenge to the users.

20. The medium of claim 17 , wherein the at least one first portion of the electronic representation of the characters of the document includes characters not recognized by an optical character recognition program.

Assignees

• Univ Carnegie Mellon

Inventors

• Von Ahn Luis
• Blum Manuel
• Maurer Benjamin D

Classifications

• G06F2221/2103

  Challenge-response · CPC title

• G06F21/36 Primary

  by graphic or iconic representation · CPC title

• G06F2221/2133

  Verifying human interaction, e.g., Captcha · CPC title